


Family

by tjmystic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 05:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjmystic/pseuds/tjmystic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 1x18; Ruby throws Mary-Margaret a private “coming home” party</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saviorswan](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=saviorswan).



Family  
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY SAVIORSWAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

Rating: PG-13 (it does indeed include the makeout scene I promised you, dear *winks*)

Summary: Ruby throws Mary-Margaret a private “coming home” party

Note: This takes place a day or so after Mary-Margaret is released from prison in ep. 1x18. I apologize if this seems super awkward and rushed - as I said in one of my posts, I’ve never written lesbian fic before, so this is a totally new experience :S

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, lovely, and I hope you’re having a happy Valentine’s Day. Be sure to message me after you’ve read this!!!!! <3

 

Fellow teachers and staff, the principal and janitors all, cheered when she exited the courthouse. Little boys and girls, most of them students in her class, waved to her in the street. Old women petted and coddled her as she paced up the stairs to her apartment.

Mary Margaret tried not to cry at the hypocrisy. Where had their greetings been when she was the town outcast? Where had their compassion been when she was accused of killing Kathryn? Where had their love -?

But no. She wouldn’t let her go down that route. If she started thinking about love (or, more specifically, all the ways it had screwed her over), she’d start thinking about David, and if she thought about David… well, she didn’t know what she’d do. Kiss him, kill him, what? 

She was too tired to think about it. 

The key clicked solemnly in its lock. Mary Margaret made a mental note to ask Emma about getting it changed - the last thing she needed was to be framed for something else. But she shook her head and entered nonetheless, intent on taking a long, hot bath to wash the day away. 

At least, she was until she heard the whimpering snore from her left. 

Mary Margaret spun around, purse raised as her only means of defense. For one horrible moment, she thought it was Regina laying on her couch. The hair was certainly the same color, and the hands were just as viciously elegant. The hands that had pursed her cheeks together in the jail, made her feel like a helpless little girl. Then the woman’s fingers sleepily brushed back her hat, and Mary Margaret sighed in relief, if not confusion - it was Ruby. 

She flicked on the low hanging lamp, amused when that caused the young brunette to yelp and roll off the sofa. 

“Ruby, what’re you doing here?” she asked cautiously, kneeling to help her friend up. ”It’s almost 11.”

The brunette rubbed hastily at her eyes with one hand and pulled out her phone with the other. Her face froze when she saw that Mary Margaret had been right about the time. 

“Damnit!” she hissed. ”I’m so sorry, MM. I wanted to be awake when you came home.”

“Why?” Mary Margaret asked wryly. ”Double checking that I wasn’t disposing of another body?”

“No!” she yelled, as if angered at her for even thinking it. ”I, well, Emma stopped by for coffee earlier, and she told me you’d be getting out of… out of jail,” she whispered the words like a more innocent girl would with cusses, “tonight. So, I, well - “

“Take a deep breath, Ruby,” she smiled, patting her on the shoulder. ”I’m not angry, it’s alright. I was just confused about why you were here.”

Ruby nodded, then, eyes wide, leapt into the kitchen, rummaging through a plastic bag she’d left on the counter. Her hands shook the whole time.

Mary Margaret couldn’t figure out why the young woman was so nervous. They weren’t exactly best friends, but they were close enough. She would’ve guessed it was because Ruby thought she was a murderer, but her adamant refusal sort of proved that theory wrong. 

“See!” Ruby finally said, grinning nervously as she skipped over. There was a something short and cylindrical in her hands. ”I-I made you a cupcake! Special. I know you like pears, so I made some pear frosting for the top. Hope it tastes good - it was kinda an experiment.”

Ruby shoved the yellowish cake forward, eyes filled with anxious hope. Mary Margaret wasn’t sure that she’d like the comparison, but she reminded her of her fifth grade students in that moment. 

Not wanting to make the young woman suffer any longer, she took the cupcake instantly and took a bite. It was delicious and cool and juicy, and Mary Margaret couldn’t help but close her eyes in delight. When she blinked them open again, she saw that Ruby was focused on her lips, as if waiting for her to speak. Self-conscious, she flicked out her tongue to lick away the pear icing. Ruby’s eyes flickered.

“I… I have to ask,” she finally managed. ”Why would you do this for me?”

Ruby shrugged, probably trying to look nonchalant but ending up the exact opposite. ”No reason.”

Mary Margaret took the last bite, then crinkled the aluminum and placed it on the coffee table. ”Ruby, this wasn’t nothing. Since I was arrested,” they both winced at the words, “nobody but Emma has had anything to do with me. Not even David. But you stayed up all night for me and… and I’d just like to know why.”

Ruby bit on her lip and looked down, almost as if she feared meeting Mary Margaret’s eyes. She twisted her feet to and fro. It was much the same as David looked when he wanted to ask her for a kiss. But surely Ruby didn’t -?

The younger woman raised her head, and Mary Margaret’s heart almost stopped. She was wrong - Ruby most surely did. 

“Do… do you remember what you told me about Emma? About how she told you she felt like you were her family? I… I feel the same way.”

“Oh, Ruby, I -“

“Wait!” she squeaked, raising her finger-less gloves in the air. ”Wait. I’m not done. I… I don’t mean I love you like… like a sister. Or a mom, or, you know, anything weird like that. I… I mean that I’m in love with you.”

Mary Margaret froze, even her brain falling unpleasantly numb. She knew that this was coming, knew as soon as Ruby met her eyes, but that couldn’t take away the shock. This was one of her oldest friends. Well, perhaps “acquaintances” was a better term - they only ever talked when Mary Margaret went to Granny’s for lunch. There had never been any clue that this was going to happen. 

But maybe she just wasn’t looking hard enough. What about all the times that Ruby locked up late so she could help her grade papers? All the free teas and coffees she gave her when she knew she was having a bad time? The timid looks she gave her over the evening dinner rush? She certainly hadn’t jumped on the “Mrs. Blanchard is a whore” bandwagon back before Kathryn’s disappearance. In fact, she was one of the very few who hadn’t. What else had Mary Margaret missed?

“I’m so sorry, MM,” Ruby whimpered glumly. ”I should’ve known that you don’t… It’s fine. I’ll just be going.”

She hadn’t planned on doing it. Hell, the thought had never entered her mind. But one moment Ruby was headed for the door, and the next Mary Margaret had glued her to the floor with her own lips. 

She’d never kissed a woman before, but the sensation was all the better for its newness. Ruby tasted like grapefruits, sweet and sour and zinging all at once, an odd combination that shot straight through her toes.

But then she was backing away, hand on her mouth and red extensions swinging in the air.

“I’m… oh, MM, I’m so sorry!” she whispered, as if saying the words any louder would make it worse. ”You’re with David, and you probably don’t even… oh, I’m so, so sorry…”

Mary Margaret pulled her forward again, smashing their mouths together in a kiss much deeper than their first. It was simmering and warm, sparkling in its quality. Finally, Ruby lifted her hands and clawed at Mary Margaret’s short scalp. They both moaned. 

“I don’t have any plans for the night,” Mary Margaret whispered. She whimpered, too, when Ruby’s tongue flicked out to catch the remains of pear icing. 

“I’m not sure we should do that tonight, MM,” Ruby murmured. ”It’s too fast. Really, we should wait until we’re ready.”

Mary Margaret pulled back until she could frame Ruby’s face. “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting the rest of our lives.”

Ruby wrinkled her nose. ”That’s from a book, isn’t it? I think I read that in a book.”

Mary-Margaret flushed. ”Yeah, we, uh, we’re reading A Series of Unfortunate Events in class right now.” She tried and failed to shrug away her embarrassment ”I thought it would be cute.”

Ruby smirked. ”You’re cute.”

She hadn’t thought she could blush any redder, but she was quickly prove wrong. ”I meant what I said, though. If we don’t go through with this tonight, we’ll never get the chance again.” She took a deep breath. “So… I think we should do it.”

Ruby’s eyes darkened, but more out of sadness than lust it seemed. ”We shouldn’t because you’re not in love with me, then. I don’t want either of us getting hurt.”

Mary Margaret clasped her hands around Ruby’s. ”We don’t have to be. We… we could try it out and see where it goes from there? A friends with benefits thing?”

Ruby chuckled, and she could tell that the mountain of anxiety had begun to fall away. ”I don’t know…”

She stopped her with another kiss to the lips, insistently pulling her in the direction of the loft bedroom. ”Please, Ruby. I don’t want to be alone tonight.” She smiled brightly, tears of joy flecking her long eyelashes. ”I want to be with my family.”

Ruby smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Later, when they lay side-by-side, tentatively undressing and eyes flitting back and forth on each others’ bodies, Mary Margaret knew she’d made the right choice. This was better than anything she’d ever felt, awkward and new and brilliant all it once. The caress of another woman’s lips on hers, a tentative smile in the dark as they tugged each others’ hair. And when Ruby’s fingers carefully stroked her, long nails touching her most sensitive of places, she almost shook out of control. But her friend would never let her fall. She’d never let her be hurt. 

In Ruby’s arms, she felt safe.

Maybe she still loved David. Maybe she always would. But here, laying next to Ruby and sharing each breath, she had something better than just love. Here, she had a family…


End file.
